A Good Life
by GataFairy
Summary: Being lied to once is bad enough. Having it happen again is almost too much to bear. Even the pluckiest of women will need a little help getting past the pain.


I disclaim: I am in no way whatsoever affiliated with anyone or anything involved with the creation of this show since its birth. I am but a humble human borrowing money to finish school, writing fanfiction to maintain some semblance of mental stability amid too much reading. (Besides, if I were involved with this show, I would've begged and pleaded with everyone to keep Donna around. Sigh!)

I babble: Just something I thought about after the episodes in the Library. It's somewhat the fault of the Prince Caspian movie.

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From the Library, the Doctor had returned victorious. He had freed four thousand twenty two people -- four thousand twenty three if Donna counted herself -- and kept River Song's mind from flickering away into a string of meaningless babble at the mercy of unfeeling shadows. It was an almost total victory as far as their adventures went. But even through his relief, the Doctor could not forget those who had fallen, and it was as plain as ever in the whole of his face.

Donna had asked him how he was not too long ago, and he had given her an ever-ambiguous "all right". She would have persisted until he confessed his lie, but she had not the strength. This time, she had lost something, too, something she had never had and, really, hadn't had after all. But, oh, when the mind believed in something, it held fast to it, no matter how great the falsehood.

The Doctor was not blind. Donna had only shared his happiness at saving the professor briefly before settling into a stubborn sulk. Humans and Gallifreyans could be so alike. Times like this, he didn't need the extensive mental capacity granted him by birth to know that she would not easily be able to set aside her feelings about the day.

The last time she had been so glum, they'd been mostly strangers. She had sat in that same chair, her hair done in an understated, classy sort of way, looking deceptively delicate in the white dress she'd likely dreamed of since childhood. She had allowed herself a few minutes to cry, and he had been in a position to distract her with the birth of her home world.

What he would give to have something so grand and new to show her now! This sad Donna was worse to see than the angry one, because at least that one would speak to him, tell him what was bothering her, and soon move past that and go back to plucky.

Oh! He had it! He rushed about the controls, making what to anyone else would seem random adjustments, but to him were the simplest directional commands any sentient being could think up.

He was smiling now, excited all over again. He'd promised her a beach and delivered near death. He would make up for that now.

"The Sapphire Waterfall, Donna!" he exclaimed, glancing over his shoulder at the still silent human. "Midnight's sort of a nasty place to go exploring, but it's got this Leisure Palace you'll love!"

"Right," she replied quietly, supplementing the word with a nod.

He finished setting their course, then turned to look at her properly, tilting his head to one side. This was almost worse than after her wedding gone sour. Then again, at least then she'd only lost six months' worth of time on lies. This time around, it had only been a few hours at best, but CAL's virtual reality had made her believe she'd spent years there.

A sigh from her brought him out of his thoughts in time to hear her speak again, still quiet, but decidedly less dejected.

"Suppose we could do with a holiday." She looked up and tried to match his smile.

And that was when he couldn't pretend anymore. His cheerful grin shrank, and sympathy took the place of mirth in his eyes. "You're still thinking about it, aren't you?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Donna nodded. "Yeah."

The Doctor leaned against the nearest railing. "Must've been a good life."

"It was." She nodded again, pressing her lips together as if thinking of whether or not to keep going – not like her at all, and so another indicator that this had affected her more than he had thought.

"I was happy," she went on, and the way she looked up let him know she was seeing that world again. "I didn't have to work because Lee took care of me and the kids. We were all so happy." She let out a small sigh, allowing herself a dreamer's smile. "It was my perfect life. I mean – before I met you," she corrected, glancing nervously at him. "It was what I wanted before. And I got it, complete with thinking I was loony for having thought you were real. I mean – I'm glad you _are_, it's just—"

"It was a good life," he said again, and when she looked at him again, she knew he understood.

They let each other have the silence that followed, both believing they were doing the other a courtesy, he out of respect for her loss, and she out of consideration for having unloaded that on him. It was a good quietness, promising nothing, demanding nothing, and were she that kind of person, Donna would have enjoyed it a good deal longer.

"Anyway," she started, shaking her head to free herself from that strange but lovely trance, "it wouldn't have worked between us, if he were real. I'm, what, three thousand years older? I don't mind younger men, but that's a little much. For a human, anyway. You're older than that expedition to the Library put together, and you were with that woman!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes as she gave him a look that lay somewhere between suggestive and disgusted. He would protest, but he was honestly too glad to have her back, the Donna he'd come to care for so.

And suddenly, the TARDIS shook. Human and Time Lord grabbed hold of their perches until it was over. He crossed to the door, peeked outside, and turned, grinning, to his companion.

"We're here! Midnight! I can't wait to see the Waterfall. It's supposed to be _brilliant_! And the spa, oh, you'll love it, you'll get pampered like nowhere else…"


End file.
